Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo is clarifying comments he made while defending the university’s president in the wake of disgraced doctor Larry Nassar’s sentencing hearing, saying he “used the wrong words” when replying to a reporter’s postgame question.

“On Friday night in my postgame press conference, I used the wrong words when trying to express my belief that Larry Nassar and anyone else who broke the law should be held accountable for their crimes,” Izzo said in a statement obtained by the Detroit Free Press. “My overall message was, and remains, that I have tremendous admiration for the courage the survivors have shown, and that Larry Nassar has permanently damaged the lives of so many people and deserve all the punishment that he receives.”

A reporter asked Izzo about Nassar — who faces a minimum sentence of 25 to 40 years in prison for molesting girls at MSU and his home, in addition to the 60-year sentence he’s already received for child pornography crimes — after the Spartans’ 85-57 win over Indiana in East Lansing on Friday.

“It’s been a very difficult week for me,” Izzo replied. “As a father, it’s been a difficult week. I listened to the stories of courageous women. I look at the survivors who spoke and, in all honesty, Nassar permanently damaged and changed the lives of so many of those people. I feel like it’s changed the life of all of us at Michigan State in some way, shape or form. As a father, that’s difficult to even fathom. I hope the right person was convicted.”

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Izzo, who has coached the Spartans since 1995, also defended Lou Anna Simon, Michigan State’s embattled president, who received a unified statement of support by the university’s board of trustees Friday before one trustee recanted his support Saturday and called for her to resign over the school’s handling of the widespread sexual assault scandal. The trustees have asked Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office to investigate the university’s handling of the scandal, which Simon has agreed to cooperate with.

“That’s a woman who has dedicated over 40 years — and I’ve been here 33 with her, and I think I know what she stands for,” Izzo said of Simon on Friday. “So I hope and pray that those survivors continue to grow in their life. I hope we do everything we can to make sure that this will never happen ever again — not only at this institution, but any institution, to be honest with you.”

Another reporter then asked about a possible “change in leadership” at the university, according to the Detroit Free Press.

“You know, when I talk to you guys about basketball, it’s really easy,” Izzo responded. “I really don’t give a damn if you agree with me or not. But I mean, you have to understand there is nothing I can say that is gonna be right right now, and there is nothing that’s gonna make anybody right. I’ll just stick by what I said. The survivors are the most courageous people — I can’t even imagine. I hate when I’m put in a position when I can almost start saying, ‘I know what you’re going through,’ because I have no clue what they’re going through and never will, and I hope I never find out.”

Izzo continued: “But I also, I just gotta say that that is a situation that I think is being dealt with and has been dealt with. And there is no way I could waver on the support for my administration or my president, knowing the 35 years I have spent here on what she has done for this university, what she has stood for — not only athletics, that’s a small part. For women’s groups, for different groups, I think she’s been a champion. I hope and pray that the survivors get through this. But I also hope that we take a serious look at what we’re doing.”

Izzo’s comments caught the attention of Lynn Raisman, the mother of Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Aly Raisman, who confronted her former doctor on Friday and warned that the testimony of 140 survivors during his sentencing will continue to haunt him in prison.

Michigan State University president Lou Anna SimonGetty Images

“I’m sorry it’s been a difficult week for you,” Lynn Raisman posted on Twitter on Saturday. “Did you hear, Larry Nassar also said it was difficult. Since you ‘hope the right person was convicted’ I wonder if you are a complete and total MORON or just a LIAR when you claim you listened to the impact statements.”

Another victim of Nassar’s abuse, Rachael Denhollander, criticized Izzo for his “blind loyalty” to Simon.

“This type of blind loyalty without bothering to get the facts or listen to what we are saying, is precisely the same mindset that lead at least 14 MSU employees to side with Nassar instead of sexual assault victims, for 20 years,” Denhollander wrote on Facebook. “We’ve been saying for 18 months that the mindset and mistakes that got us here, are still alive and well at MSU. Today, you confirmed it once again.”

Nassar’s sentencing hearing will continue Monday. The 54-year-old disgraced former sports doctor got emotional during the fourth day of his sentencing Friday. A day earlier, a judge dismissed as “mumbo jumbo” a letter he wrote claiming that his mental health was not strong enough to endure the hearing.

Simon, meanwhile, attended the hearings for half a day on Wednesday, the Detroit Free Press reports. She was criticized Tuesday by several media outlets after saying she would attend the hearings and then changing her mind. She did not return for the victim impact statements Thursday or Friday, according to the newspaper.